All Rise...

The Charge

The Case

Jamie Oliver is known as "The Naked Chef," a British cook who keeps
his clothes on but who is a big fan of natural or "naked" food
(devotees of The Food Network know exactly who I am talking about). Jamie's
Kitchen is a chance to see the chef raw, and somewhat unfiltered. It's a
seven episode reality series that aired in part on The Food Network, which aired
the first five episodes. Jamie takes fifteen unemployed London youths and tries
to turn them into chefs, to work in his new London restaurant called,
appropriately, Fifteen. So the master chef has fifteen surly new apprentices who
have never cooked or worked, he's opening a very expensive restaurant that he
will staff with his protégés, he's got a baby on the way, and he still
has to make appearances and run his business as usual. What could possibly go
wrong? Basically everything. Will the whole enterprise go "tits up,"
or will Jamie succeed as he has in everything he's done before?

Being a chef is probably the most dangerous and thankless profession I can
think of. You are surrounded by knives, hot oil, flames, and tons of things that
could maim or kill you at any moment. Add to that the fact that most kitchens
are run by maniacal control freaks in white hats, and that most restaurant
customers are complaining idiots who never seem to be satisfied. You've got to
be brave and a freakish perfectionist to ever want to pursue a career like this.
And cooking for a fancy restaurant? Even worse than your run-of-the-mill line
cook job. The pressure is always on, and it never lets up. Nowhere is this more
evident than in this show.

Jamie's Kitchen is filled with fifteen Londoners who are basically
screwed by life in some way or another, who are given the chance to be a chef
under Jamie's tutelage. It's the opportunity of a lifetime, and one many people
would chop off fingers to get (some even their own digits). Jamie picks his
candidates from a pool of thousands based solely on a couple of tests and some
video interviews. The kids selected are ecstatic at first, but then the reality
sets in that they have one year to become something special. They have to learn
all the basics. We get to see their horrified looks as they realize how tedious
this is going to be after their first weeks in class are spent chopping for
hours on end. The drama in the show comes from watching them slowly sink or swim
under all the pressure. Sometimes they rise to the challenge, and sometimes they
don't even bother to show up. It's amazing how some people can throw away a big
opportunity all on their own. Jamie Oliver himself becomes a source of drama as
we see his judgment questioned, his family balk at the time he puts in, and his
personal investment threatened by his candidates' lack of expertise. Face
it—these people could kill someone with some misprepared food, let alone
produce five star cuisine that anyone would pay a pretty pound for.

Jamie's Kitchen is something most reality shows are not—smart
and funny. Ironically, so much of reality programming is full of strange silly
quests for love or money that the genre rarely enters the real world. Yet here's
a show where fifteen kids are learning a set of skills that could set them up
for a much better life. And there are no judges telling them to "go
home"—rather, the most dangerous thing is they may eliminate
themselves by quitting. None of the drama in the show feels forced, there are no
surprise twists, and it's completely absorbing and entertaining. I'm no chef
(believe me), but Jamie's Kitchen is an inspiring story about trying to
beat the odds, and doing some good for people along the way. It's what reality
TV should be.

If you saw the series on The Food Network you missed a lot. First off, Jamie
Oliver is a foul-mouthed little man whose language was often bleeped—or
worse, cut out—from what aired on the cable network. His unemployed cadre
of chefs-in-training curse like sailors as well, so you also missed their
colorful comments on cable. This two-disc set features the entire series
unedited. You also get two follow-up episodes that were not aired in broadcast,
which provides more closure to the story of the kids and Jamie. The transfers
are, for the most part, amazingly well done. Like most reality programs, the
film elements vary a little scene to scene, but on the whole it's crystal clear
with only minimal digital artifacts. Most prominent is the shimmering,
especially with the chef hats, many of which are an intense plaid. The two
channel stereo mix is fine—the series is all about dialogue, so it's a
good fit for the show. Other than the inclusion of the two extra follow-up
episodes, there are no extras. I would have liked some more insight into the
production, but the series explains itself so well that the lack of additional
content is not felt. The one area that it does feel like it falls short is that
it could have used some recipes. The dishes the students make are often
striking, and I wish I could try to duplicate them in my own kitchen. (Or force
someone else to try, since I burn water.)

Anyone who is considering attending a culinary college should consider this
series mandatory viewing. Rarely do you get to see what goes on in a cooking
school and what it's like to open a restaurant so vividly. For the rest of us,
it's an entertaining, uplifting show that makes for a great rental. If you're a
fan of Jamie Oliver you definitely need to take the leap and purchase the set,
since this is undiluted, up-close personal time with "The Naked Chef."
Jamie's Kitchen is a great series, and it's given a suitably well done
DVD. The seven episodes fly by, and it's all over before you realize it. I just
wish I could get seconds!